Charles E. Cobb Jr. feels so passionate about trade that over the past 12 years, he has given away $120,000 in cash to reward those who do a good job of promoting it.
Known as the Charles E. Cobb Jr. Award for Initiative and Success in Trade Development, the $5,000 honor is bestowed annually on the American ambassador and the career foreign service officer who excel in developing commerce overseas.
''It's been very satisfying to me to help change the culture of the State Department,'' Cobb said.
The Cobb award is just one of the avenues the millionaire Coral Gables businessman has taken in the past two decades to propel free trade.
But perhaps none have been quite as challenging as the double undertaking Cobb assumed earlier this year when Gov. Jeb Bush appointed him chairman of two organizations related to the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas.
Florida FTAA is leading the state's efforts to land the association's permanent headquarters for Miami. The FTAA VIII Ministerial and Americas Business Forum is organizing the trade ministers meeting next month in Miami.
That means Cobb is spending ''60 hours a week'' on FTAA issues, involved in everything from meeting with the Secret Service about security for the trade ministers to scheduling trips to Latin America to lobby government officials to vote for Miami as the FTAA seat.
It also means that his own business dealings as chief executive of investment firm Cobb Partners, such as the impending purchase of a large Caribbean resort, have been pushed to the back burner. ''I'm letting my other things slip a little bit,'' he acknowledged.
TRUE BELIEVER
Cobb doesn't seem too worried. The nonpaid FTAA posts meld his lifelong interests of Florida civic affairs and free trade, a career that has interchanged business and politics, and his sportsman's competitive spirit to boot. ''It's all who I am,'' he said.
He became a true believer in free trade during his tenure as chief operating officer of Penn Central. During countless trips to 100 countries to oversee the multinational industrial company's far-flung operations, he realized that commerce could advance underdeveloped nations.
''I was constantly running into trade policies that I was convinced weren't in the best interest of that nation,'' he said. ``Venezuela, for example, had very high tariffs on telecommunications equipment, and that was hurting their efficiency. I am totally convinced if two countries trade with each other, focusing on what they do best, that creates wealth for everyone.''
A key local Republican Party fundraiser, Cobb travels in both Florida and Washington, D.C., political and business circles.
On the corporate side, he is known as a developer of towns and resorts. He had roles in more than two dozen projects over 40 years, including Weston, Fisher Island and Walt Disney World.
ARVIDA DEALS
One career highlight at Penn Central was his 1983 leadership of a $250 million buyout of real estate developer Arvida Corp. A year later, he sold Arvida to The Walt Disney Co. for 10 times that amount, staying on at Disney as a member of its board for three years.
Associates say it is that capacity for vision that has made Cobb a leader.
In the early 1980s, Cobb worked closely with Bill Cullom, former president of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, in the South Florida Coordinating Council, which they founded to promote the region.
''He was a pioneer in seeing the benefit of South Florida as a regional power,'' Cullom said. ``I had dinner with him once a month over 12 years, and he always had good ideas to deal with every topic.''
At least one plan didn't turn out so well. In the 1990s, Cobb made headlines with his effort to found a new airline under the Pan Am name. He wound up taking a $2 million bath on that venture.
That project was an exception, however. Cobb's successes have enabled him to become a philanthropist.
''He understands the role of giving back to the community,'' said Al Cárdenas, a partner in the Miami law firm Tew Cárdenas Rebak and former state GOP chairman, who has known Cobb for more than 20 years.
Cobb has focused especially on education, serving on the University of Miami Board of Trustees and co-founding the Barry University Charter School in 1998. It serves 180 predominantly minority middle-school students.
''He really tries to do what's right for the world,'' said Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, president of Barry University, which awarded an honorary doctorate to Cobb in 1999. ``His whole family goes out of their way to help those who have not been so blessed.''
With the thorny FTAA negotiations likely to overshoot the agreement's 2005 target date, Cobb foresees that he'll be wrapped up for at least another year in the effort to lure the secretariat to Miami. The city is in a strongly contested race with Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; Panama City, Panama; Puebla, Mexico; and Atlanta.
Cobb, of course, predicts victory. ''I'm a very competitive person,'' he said. ``I'm a former Olympic athlete who trains hard, pushes hard and competes hard. I'm in this to win.''
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.